Correction Service Staff blame poor rehabilitation and reintegration of inmates on the lack of provisions for reaching out to ex-convicts amongst others
Findings revealed that the activities available at the farms ranged from cowpea farming, vegetable farming, oil palm production, cassava, and sheep rearing.
The most preferred agriculture activity of inmates was Rice farming with 27.6% preference. It was followed by cassava farming (18.5%), pig farming (16.7%) and oil palm production (14.8%).
Findings from recent survey research on the assessment of farm management activities in Nigerian prison farms shows that there are no provisions for reaching out to ex-convicts. This was made known by the staff of Ozalla and IbiteOlo Prison farm in Edo and Delta state respectively. The survey was conducted by academic researchers at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka in collaboration with a researcher at the Alex Ekwueme University Ndufu-Alike, Nigeria.
31.60 percent of the prison staff who participated in the survey research attributed this to lack of guidance and counselling. Another 36.8 percent attributed it to the insufficient fund for the management of the prison farms to undertake this task.
While the other 31.6 percent attributed it to the fact that the majority of released inmates did not reside close to the prison farms when released. Furthermore, the research revealed that 89.5% of staff indicated that there were no provisions for a take-off grant for inmates on discharge from correction service centres.
This was due to the insufficient fund (78.9 percent), while 10.5 percent of staff reported there was no such plan for inmates by the management. Although some staff of the prison attested to inmates’ ability to access take-off grants by indicating interest, they noted that it is unsuccessful most times.
These challenges are detrimental to efficient reforming, rehabilitation and subsequent reintegration of offenders. The whole inmates reforming process should not end at the rehabilitation stage. More efforts and resources should be directed at the reintegration stage. This is to avoid the situation of ex-convicts being remanded in correction centres for partaking in crime after an earlier release.
There is a need for the management of correction service centres and partner agencies institute a working scheme. This should include reaching out to ex-convict and ensure that they are actively involved in various agriculture vocations based on what they learnt in prison.
The researchers believe the government needs to invest more to financially assisting ex-convicts to take up the agricultural vocation after serving their prison term. Also, there is a need for more fund to expand prison farms and other farm infrastructure.
Rather than being reformed and turning a new leaf, many offenders sent to the prisons, according to experts, become hardened and turn to recidivists. This could be attributed to poor management of Prisoners’ rehabilitation and reintegration process propelled by the overcrowding of prisons.
With the signing into law of the Nigerian correction service act, it is expected that the criminal justice system will be ridden of its overcrowded nature. It is also expected that the correctional service act will reorient the criminal justice system towards effective rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders.
Rehabilitation and reintegration of offenders will not be possible without the provision of state of the art- facilities in correction centres. Provision of state of the art facilities in correction centres will ensure that most inmates can benefit from educational and vocational training, which will be of immense benefit to them after their release. One important training facility in Nigeria correctional centres is prison farms.
Prison farms are essential for the new correctional services act to fulfil its aim of reforming, rehabilitating and reintegrating offenders. Due to the multifunctional nature of agriculture, farm activities in Nigerian prisons have the potential to be the industrial and economic springboard from which inmates take off when their jail term is completed. In view of the increasing global emphasis on rehabilitation services and programs for prison inmates, engaging inmates in more agricultural activities will help them earn a living upon release from prison.
Earning a decent living through agriculture will reduce the possibility of a large number of inmates reoffending as soon as they are released and consequently go back to prison.
In light of the importance of prison farms in the rehabilitation and integration of offenders, the research reviewed in this publication further assessed farm management activities in Nigerian prison farms.
The survey research explored certain types of agricultural activities available to prison inmates and ranks them based on inmates’ preference. It further ascertained the factors motivating prison inmates to participate in such programs.
The study adopted a survey design. The survey research involved the collection of information from a sample of individuals through their responses to questions. A semi-structured interview schedule was used to elicit responses from inmates while questionnaires were used to obtain responses from the staff available within the period (July — November 2016) the study was carried out.
Population and sampling procedure: The general population for the study came from the Enugu and Benin prisons represented by the officers and prison inmates. The Enugu State has four prisons, with the maximum-security prison located in Enugu, the state capital. These include: Enugu Prison, Ibite Olo Farm, Nsukka Prison and Oji River Prison (NPS, 2016). Ibite Olo Farm was intentionally selected for the study. The Edo State has a total of six prisons with the major prison in Benin, the state capital. The prisons are: Benin (Old), Benin (New), Ogba Farm, Ozalla Farm, Ubiaja and Auchi (NPS, 2016). The Ozalla Farm was selected on purpose because of its proximity. The researchers noted that the reason for this was because of the presence of prison farms, as opposed to the other states under the same zone that do not have prison farms. Other states in the same zone as Edo and Enugu are Anambra, Delta, and the Ebonyi States
The total number of inmates in Benin (Ozalla Farm Centre) at the time of study was 41 while Enugu (Ibite-Olo Farm Centre) had 13 of them. However, the management did not disclose staff numbers. Hence, the interaction was limited to the officers on duty on the day inmates were interviewed as the size of the staff was termed classified for security reasons. Hence, 12 and seven prison officers participated in both Edo and Enugu states respectively. This brought the total population for the study to 54 prison inmates and 19 officers.
Findings from the research revealed that the activities available at the farms ranged from cowpea farming, vegetable farming, oil palm production, cassava, and sheep rearing.
The most preferred agriculture activity of inmates was Rice farming with 27.6% preference. It was followed by cassava farming (18.5%), pig farming (16.7%) and oil palm production (14.8%). The major reasons why inmates preferred rice farming to other crop production activities were because, it is a staple food with a readily available market to sell and profit from it (18.1%), and because it is easy to plant and maintain (7.4%). Cassava farming was preferred due to the fact that it was easy to cultivate (13.0%), pig farming was considered very lucrative (13.0%).
Inmates’ preferred activity and reasons for preference
Moreso, findings from the research revealed that the most implemented programs in the prison farms were those related to crop production. They include Oil palm production, cassava farming, sheep rearing, maize farming. The research also noted that inmates were motivated to engage in agricultural activities because of the following key reasons; increased chances of gainful employment upon release, help to channel energy and thoughts toward positive things, competence and capability to handle the activities.
Based on the findings from the reviewed research, the FG should invest in setting up prison farms in various prisons in the country. The Nigeria Correction Service centres (NCSC) should take note of inmates’ preference for rice and cassava production.
As important staple foods for human consumption with great market value, cassava and rice production should also be implemented in other prison farms. This will save the prison service the cost of buying these food items for inmates consumption. Producing these items in large scale will also create a means of revenue generation for the prison service when the food items are sold.
Above all, NCSC should provide robust schemes that will sustain the training of inmates in rice and cassava production among other crops, even when the inmates are discharged. Lastly, the NCSC should encourage the implementation of other forms of agriculture such as animal production.